After Devin Booker shot the ball with 1.9 seconds left and was given a shot clock violation, Julius Randle hit a heavily contested 3-pointer before the buzzer as the Minnesota Timberwolves shocked the Phoenix Suns 120-117.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Booker went off for 44 points and the Suns (9-5) have lost their fourth game in the last five. Randle was the driving force behind Minnesota (8-6) pulling off the miraculous comeback with the game-winning shot and a team-high 35 points.
Here are some takeaways from what happened that led to the Timberwolves stealing a win over the Suns:
-With Bradley Beal (left calf strain), Kevin Durant (left calf strain) and Collin Gillespie (right ankle fracture) all out, Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer surprisingly had two centers Mason Plumlee and Jusuf Nurkić in the starting lineup.
-Returning from a two-game absence in which he was dealing with right hamstring soreness, Grayson Allen scored 18 points and grabbed five rebounds.
-After not scoring a single point in the first half and finishing with a season-low 12 points in the 99-83 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Booker tallied 15 points in the first quarter and 27 in the half vs. Minnesota.
-Facing the Suns for the first time members of the Timberwolves, Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo were a deadly duo. Randle and DiVincenzo combined 25 of Minnesota’s 38 points at one stage of the first half and contributed to a 16-4 run for the Timberwolves. Randle led the Timberwolves with 35 points, seven assists and four rebounds while DiVincenzo potted 15 points from 5-for-11 shooting (45.5%) from the field and 5-for-10 (50%) from three. Both players were involved in a trade to the New York Knicks that saw Karl-Anthony Towns go the other way.
-With a 64-54 lead, Phoenix shot over 25-for-41 (61%) as a whole and 7-for-15 (46.7%) from 3 in the first half, but turned the ball over 10 times.
-Trying to combat Minnesota’s giant duo of having both Randle (6-foo-9) and Rudy Gobert (7-foot-1) both on the floor at the same time, Plumlee and Nurkić tried to match their physicality on the inside and in the paint. The Suns outrebounded Minnesota 41-32 and outscored them 50-48 in the paint using this system.
-Minnesota clawed within one of Phoenix in the third quarter, with Anthony Edwards coming alive and making tough shots. A wild flurry of offense from one of the youngest stars in the NBA, Edwards scored 13 of his 24 points in the quarter alone.
-Just when the Timberwolves had the momentum, Allen flushed back-to-back 3-pointers and ignited a 7-0 run for the Suns. The sharpshooting guard/forward was 4-for-7 (57.1%) from deep in the game, trying to get back to his league-leading 46.3% 3-point shooting from last season.
-Given a significant role with the two-center lineup on the floor, Suns rookie Oso Ighodaro played 26 minutes, collecting 11 points, three rebounds and one assist.
-The significant impact of Royce O’Neale coming off the bench continued as he eclipsed seven points, four rebounds, two assists, one block and two steals. O’Neale was averaging 9.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 25.2 minutes per game this season before Sunday’s matinee.
-Quietly recording a double-double, Tyus Jones posted 13 points and 11 assists against his former team. Jones played the first four years (2015-19) of his NBA career with the Timberwolves after being traded on draft night by the Cleveland Cavaliers and appeared in 247 games (34 starts).
-In the starting lineup, Suns 2024 first-round draft pick Ryan Dunn was unable to get a rhythm started, scoring just two points in 18 minutes.
-Not leading throughout the game, Minnesota went up 115-114 courtesy of a three from Edwards with 1:09 left in the fourth quarter.
-Booker tried to flutter a layup in the air and missed with 1.9 seconds left in the game, but it didn’t matter as it was a shot clock violation. The Timberwolves inbounded and Randle capped off his heroic performance with a game-winning 3-pointer before the buzzer, stunning the Suns. Randle pushed off of Josh Okogie before shooting and no foul was called.
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Phoenix Mercury, Suns and ASU Athletics for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
